


Ghost of a Chance

by Ninja_Librarian



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, F/M, Happy Celtic New Year!, Happy Halloween!, Love Confessions, Star Wars References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 06:36:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12575872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninja_Librarian/pseuds/Ninja_Librarian
Summary: Pidge and Shiro have been dating for a while now, and have the best couples costume for the big Halloween Party! With all the food, dancing and games that await them, it's sure to be a memorable evening!And Shiro... He hopes to make it a little more memorable.He just needs to get up his courage to say those three little words.





	Ghost of a Chance

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Halloween/Celtic New Year!

“Your costumes are fantastic!” Hunk exclaimed as he moved aside for Pidge and Shiro to enter the house, bass thumping from within and the whole house decorated in orange and black. 

“Thanks!” Shiro said. “Nice _Harry Potter_ robes, Hunk.”

“Thanks, Shay made them, aren’t they the best?” Hunk said, pride for his girlfriend oozing into his voice as he ran a finger over the yellow-and-black robes. “Come here, let me take your picture!” Hunk said, pulling out his phone and ushering Pidge and Shiro over to a part of the spacious living room that seemed to be set up specifically as a selfie station.

“A-plus couples costume, guys,” Lance added as he paused in walking past them, pulling up his Deadpool mask so they could see his grin. “Perfect for you two nerds.”

Pidge gave him a light punch in the side. “Shut up…” But she was also grinning.

She was rather pleased with how their costumes had turned out. But Lance was right, it was a perfect couples costume for her and Shiro.

She and Shiro had only been dating for a few months, but knew that they wanted to go to this party together as a ‘set’. And, being the nerds that they were, decided to go as one of the most famous couples of all fiction-kind: Han Solo and Princess Leia.

Pidge also could unashamedly admit that her boyfriend made an excellent Han Solo. The three dozen bobby pins and the hour spent with Allura doing her hair into the iconic Princess Leia buns was totally worth it just to see _Shiro’s_ buns in the tight blue pants they had found at a thrift store as part of his costume.

Best three bucks Pidge ever spent.

“So, what do you want to do first?” Shiro asked once Hunk was done taking their picture. “Food, hit the dancefloor, or check out some of the games?”

“Food,” Pidge answered quickly. “Hunk made most of it, so it’s going to be gone in an hour. Plus, have you seen Hunk’s Halloween treats? He goes all out.”

“I have seen. Hunk’s been blowing up my Instagram all day with pictures,” Shiro said. “So I was hoping you’d say that.” He offered his arm, “Allow me to escort you, Princess.”

Pidge gladly took his arm. “Let’s go see what incredible smells we can discover.”

********

Shiro was nervous, his heart pounding. And it wasn’t from all the people crammed into the house and the noise.

Pidge looked so beautiful dressed up as Princess Leia. All dressed in white, like a bride…

_Okay, Takashi, you’re jumping way too far ahead of yourself there, buddy…_

He took a deep, steadying breath as he put another deviled egg (with small slices of olives and peppers placed on top so that the eggs actually looked like devils) on his plate. He watched as Pidge’s eyes gleamed with delight as she chose which treats she put onto her plate. 

He loved it when her eyes gleamed like that. He saw them gleam whenever she figured out a solution with her newest coding or robotics project. Or whenever she was talking about the genius of people like Ada Lovelace, Grace Hopper, and Alan Turing. Or when he surprised her with a half-dozen peanut butter cookies when she was on a roll on her work or studying for midterms. He had needed to see _Wonder Woman_ in the theaters three times because the first time he spent most of the movie watching Pidge’s reactions, went to see it without her the second time so he could actually see the movie himself, then took her to see it again simply so he could watch her get excited all over again. He had a feeling he would be doing the same when the new _Star Wars_ movie comes out.

He just loved the smile that came with her eyes gleaming. Loved the excitement in her voice as she talked about her interests, as well as her dry wit and sarcasm. Her self-satisfied smirk also had a special place in his heart. He loved the way she had smirked when he got so flustered over her surprising him at his eight AM classes on Monday mornings with his favorite tea and a muffin, because she knew he worked late on Sunday nights and didn’t get a chance to get himself any breakfast before rushing out the door. And he had a feeling that she liked how flustered he got every week when she showed up outside his classroom door—like clockwork—waiting for him, even though her own classes didn’t start until three hours later.

He loved how she snuggled into him on movie nights, and how she never hesitated to take his hand—both his real hand and the prosthetic he was always so self-conscious about. And how she preferred to alternate who was the big spoon when they cuddled, and how when she was the big spoon she pet his hair and kissed the back of his neck and called him ‘cute’ and ‘adorable’, especially when he blushed.

They had been dating for a few months now, and Shiro… Well, he wasn’t sure he could imagine his life without her. 

He loved her. He had known that for weeks now.

He wanted her to know that.

He _needed_ her to know that.

But he was worried. Did she love him back? Would it freak her out if she told him? What if he just made things weird and awkward?

What if she broke up with him?

Well, he decided. Halloween was supposed to be the scariest day of the year, but also a time to face your fears.

“Come on, Shiro, there’s open seats over here!” Pidge said, pointing to a loveseat that was surprisingly free of a couple making-out.

Shiro followed her over, and they ate while people watching and commenting on costumes and the food. A few people came over to chat and compliment their costumes, such as Allura and Keith, who were also in a couples costume as Princess Buttercup and Wesley the Dread Pirate Roberts from _The Princess Bride_ , and Matt’s _Inspector Gadget_ costume as well as Shay’s own Hufflepuff robes. 

He enjoyed it, but it was just more and more excuses to delay saying what he needed to say.

“Hunk’s really outdone himself this year,” Pidge commented as she ate another ‘zombie eye’, which was actually a slightly melted candy piece on top of a square-shaped mini-pretzel with an M&M pressed in.

“Yeah, he has,” Shiro mumbled as he tore his white-chocolate and candy-corn cookie into two.

He had to tell her. He couldn’t keep delaying this. He just had to go right out and say…

********

“I love you.”

Pidge turned back to Shiro, momentarily confused by what he said, watching him shift uncomfortably under her gaze and furrowed brows.

Then she processed.

And she grinned, chuckling slightly.

“Silly,” She chided. “That’s _my_ line.”

Shiro blinked. “Huh?”

“That’s my line,” Pidge repeated. “I’m Princess Leia. I’m supposed to say ‘I love you’. And you’re Han Solo, so you’re supposed to say ‘I know’. That’s how it goes.”

To her shock, Shiro seemed to wilt in front of her eyes, gaze suddenly down on his plate. “Oh. Yeah, you’re right. Sorry.” Suddenly, he stood up. “I, uh, I’m going to go get—”

Either she didn’t hear him finish his sentence over the noise, or he never did finish the sentence before he walked away from her, leaving her confused.

“Hey, Princess,” Lance said, depositing himself into Shiro’s vacant seat. “Where’s your _boo_?” Lance snickered at his own pun. “Get it? _Boo_?”

“Yeah, Lance, I got it,” Pidge said, frowning slightly as she craned her neck, trying to see Shiro.

Lance frowned. “What’s wrong? You love a good pun.”

“Shiro’s acting weird, and I’m concerned about him.” Pidge explained. “He seemed upset, but I don’t know about what. He just got up, made some half-hearted excuse, and walked away.”

“So you’re saying he _ghosted_ you?” Lance asked, smirking slightly. Pidge gave him a withering glare. “Alright, fine. What happened before that?” Lance asked, taking a bite out of a white-chocolate covered-strawberry ‘ghost’.

“Nothing, really,” Pidge said, shrugging. “We were sitting here eating, and people watching, and just chatting about nothing in particular.” She tilted her head slightly in thought. “Though, he did suddenly decide to quote _Star Wars_ at me.”

“Oh yeah?” Lance asked, moving on to a candy-corn shaped and decorated Rice Krispies treat. “Was it in context of the conversation or something?”

“Not in the slightest,” Pidge said. “Plus he got who said it mixed up. He said a Leia quote when I’m Princess Leia and he’s Han Solo.”

“Huh,” Lance said, biting the top of the treat, then asked around the mouthful, “What quote?”

Pidge smiled faintly. “Only the most iconic Han-and-Leia exchange in the franchise. Which includes one of the best known ad-libbed lines in cinematic history. He said ‘I love you’.”

She had to admit, it would have been nice to hear him say it for real, though…

Lance must have choked on his Rice Krispies treat because he started coughing violently. Pidge jumped, but took her fist and thumped him on the back helpfully.

“He said _what_?” Lance said weakly, voice scratchy from the sudden coughing fit. “Pidge, you idiot!”

“Excuse me?” Pidge said, scowling. “I am not—”

“I don’t think he was quoting the movie, Pidge!” Lance said, his eyes wide. “He was being serious!”

“What?” Pidge squawked, cheeks reddening. “What, no, he couldn’t have been…”

Then it hit her. How he had practically torn his cookie to crumbs like he was distracted before, and then how upset he was after, upset enough that he walked away from her…

He was being honest.

And she had teased him, hadn’t realized that he was telling her how he felt.

That he _loved_ her.

She jumped up, her plate and empty cupcake wrappers falling to the floor. “I have to find Shiro!”

She took off running, pushing through the crowds, searching everywhere for her boyfriend, calling out for him over the loud music.

People called behind her, asking if she was looking for droids or if Vader was after her Death Star plans.

Unfortunately, being as short as she was, she couldn’t look up for people’s faces and straight ahead of her to see where she was going. Which meant she had essentially look at a lot of butts and stomachs. Which, understandably, was not helping.

Until she laid eyes on a very familiar derrière clad in tight blue pants with a small hole in one of the back pockets that Pidge swore no one would notice as long as he wore underwear of the exact same color, which had resulted in getting some weird looks from other shoppers as they stood in the men’s undergarments department of Target, holding up the pants to the packages for comparison. 

She’d know that butt anywhere. Routinely squeezed it and enjoyed the squeaking sound its owner made, like a man-sized rubber duck.

“Shiro!”

*********

Shiro was trying very hard not to feel sorry for himself.

So he had just attempted to bare his soul to the woman of his dreams, the light of his life, the yin to his yang… and it hadn’t gone well at all.

Yeah, okay, he was feeling sorry for himself.

_Stupid,_ He thought. _Should have done it differently, not just blurted it out like an idiot. And what kind of idiot says something like that in the middle of a Halloween party with no context whatsoever? I knew I should have—_

“Shiro!”

He jumped slightly at hearing his name, turning to see Pidge running over towards him, panting, her skin glistening slightly as she grabbed his arm with both of her hands.

She said something, but he couldn’t hear her over the music and the people.

“What?” He said, frowning slightly.

She tried again, but he still couldn’t make out what she said.

“What?” He said again. “I can’t hear you!”

She huffed, took a deep breath and yelled, right as the song ended,

“I LOVE YOU, TOO, TAKASHI SHIROGANE!”

Shiro felt his cheeks heat and warmth blossom in his stomach.

She loved him. She loved him!

She stood there panting slightly, staring up at him, both quiet.

The silence was broken by some giggles and not-so-quiet whispering. They turned to see that pretty much everything had stopped, and nearly three dozen pairs of eyes were staring at them.

Shiro’s cheeks burned for a new reason now…

Pidge stuck her tongue out and flipped everyone off, then tugged on Shiro’s wrist. “Come on, let’s go to somewhere quiet and private.” She said softly.

There were a few wolf-whistles as they left the room, which they both chose to ignore in favor for the backyard, where hardly anyone was hanging out in the chilly air. The few who lingered quickly headed back inside, the girls giggling slightly and the guys giving Shiro thumbs-ups, evidentially having heard the commotion inside.

They sat down in patio chairs across from each other, neither sure what to say.

Then, Shiro said softly, “I love you.”

Pidge smiled up at him shyly, reaching up to brush back a piece of her hair that strayed out of her bun. “I know.” She stood up and moved into his lap, placing her hands on his face. “And I love you.”

Shiro smiled. “I know.”

Slowly, noses bumping, they fell into a kiss, a deep, passionate kiss, Shiro’s hand reaching up to cradle the back of her skull while her thumbs brushed his cheek-bones.

Shiro could taste all of the sugary treats Pidge had eaten on his own tongue. The gummy worms from her cupcake and the fake zombie-eyes and the tombstone-shaped sugar cookies.

He was getting a sugar high just kissing her.

Or, maybe… Maybe he was just drunk on the fact that she loved him, too…

They broke apart slowly, reluctantly. They met each other’s eyes, then started laughing at nothing.

“I love you,” Shiro whispered again. “I really, really love you…”

“How long…?”

“A while now. I just didn’t quite know how to say it. But I mean it. Every single word of it.”

Her smile grew, slowly, slyly. “I know.”

They stayed there together, under the Halloween moon, blissfully happy, until the chill got to be too much. When they reentered the house to warm up with hot chocolate, they were met with thunderous applause and more wolf whistles, to their embarrassment.

“Best Halloween ever,” Pidge said happily as Shiro handed her a cup full of cocoa. “Too bad it’s once a year.”

“Halloween may be once a year,” Shiro said, wrapping his arm around her waist. “But that’s what makes it special.”

“You know how we can make it more special?” Pidge asked, smiling sneakily up at Shiro, wiggling her eyebrows some.

“By challenging Matt and Lance to _Just Dance_ and kicking their butts at it?”

Pidge laughed. “Handsome, smart, funny, and a mind-reader, too. I love you, Shiro.”

He leaned over and pressed a kiss to the top of her head and whispered, “I know.”

The End


End file.
